Company History

December 1997

The Times Mirror Co., Tribune Co. and The Washington Post Co. announced the creation of Classified Ventures, a partnership to help newspapers expand their position  using internet technologies  as the nation's leading suppliers of classified advertising. The new partnership's first product was Cars.com, and it was promoted as a national brand.
The initial affiliate companies committed substantial capital and advertising space among their media properties, including both print and broadcast, to build awareness of Cars.com.

May 1998

Knight Ridder Inc., Central Newspapers, Gannett Co. Inc. and The McClatchy Co. joined Classified Ventures, LLC, to deliver the deepest, broadest information about automobile purchasing and selling to consumers across the nation.

June 1998

Cars.com was launched to the public, offering classified vehicle listings in eight markets, including four of the nation's 10 largest cities: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington, D.C.

July 1998

Cars.com announced a partnership with acclaimed auto experts and notorious wise guys Tom and Ray Magliozzi of public radio's Car Talk.

December 1998

Cars.com attracted more than 500,000 unique visitors a month, making it the fastest-growing automotive website in the industry in 1998.

May 1999

Cars.com signed an agreement to be the exclusive online provider of several used-vehicle reports from Carfax Inc.

November 2001

The newspaper and television websites of Belo Interactive Inc., Belo Corp.'s internet subsidiary, joined the affiliate network of Cars.com.

June 2003

Cars.com celebrated its fifth anniversary at the National Independent Automobile Dealers Association Convention and Expo. In line with the anniversary, Cars.com introduced its Independent Ad Package.

November 2003

Cars.com and Kelley Blue Book (kbb.com) announced a strategic partnership under which Cars.com powers Kelley Blue Book's Blue Book Classifieds and Buy Used channels on kbb.com. As part of the agreement, Kelley Blue Book became the exclusive provider of used-vehicle value information on Cars.com.

J.D. Power and Associates' newly released 2003 Dealer Satisfaction with Online Buying Services Study(SM) reports that Cars.com is the leader in dealer satisfaction among independent websites for the third consecutive year.

April 2004

Cars.com announced a three-year strategic business relationship to exclusively power MSN Autos' used-vehicle classified listings and become the exclusive private-party used-vehicle classified listing service linked to the site.

May 2004

Cars.com announced the launch of its first national television campaign.